1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a compact, economical random number selection device of simple yet highly effective construction which has numerous advantages including versatility in generating different sets of random numbers useful in selecting numbers for lottery games. More particularly, it is concerned with a device having an enclosed ball-receiving compartment defined by a generally transparent top wall, a bottom wall having a plurality of ball-receiving cavities defined therein, enclosing sidewalls, and a plurality of balls received within the compartment, each bearing a respective distinct indicium thereon with the number of cavities in the bottom wall being less than the number of balls.
2. Description of the Prior Art
State-run lottery games have been very popular. One of the must popular games is known as "lotto" in which the player chooses six numbers between one and thirty-nine inclusive. The lottery officials then randomly select six numbers. The player can win varying amounts of money depending on how many of the player's numbers are selected.
Inasmuch as the official numbers for the "lotto" game are randomly generated, some players desire to likewise select their choices randomly. The prior art reveals various devices for randomly selecting numbers such as U.S. Pat. No. 4,497,486 issued to Bennett. The Bennett patent discloses a container having a plurality of indicia bearing recesses and a fewer plurality of identical balls designed for registration with the recesses. Such a device, however, requires a somewhat complex bottom wall structure in order to define the large number of recesses. This has a tendency to increase the manufacturing cost of the device. Additionally, the Bennett device does not place the balls in a given spacial pattern which somewhat inhibits the versatility of the device in selecting various random-number sets.